Some weeks later I conveyed this story to my close friend John when visiting he and his wife at their home. John by nature is a skeptic and at the time a self proclaimed agnostic. He was very emphatic that I just had a vivid dream or nightmare and out of body experiences were out of the realm of science or logic. I amusingly said that to proof him wrong the next time I have such a experience I will over come my fears and make a trip to his house and attempt to make my presence known. His tone changed a bit, with both a hint of humor but more seriousness, and he said I should not do this. He said if I did, and he knew I was present he would immediately get out of bed and give me a phone call thus waking up my body and potentially blocking my reentry. Not sure that things work quite this way in the nether world but I dully check him off my list of places to visit if ever I had a similar experience.
Since this time I had only one similar “dream state” experience of this nature which was well beyond the realm of a ordinary dream. This happened several years later after my first.
For weeks I would come home from work feeling very extraordinarily fatigued. I would lie down and would feel almost feverish and doze off for about a half hour only to awake feeling as or more exhausted. One afternoon I thought I had awoke from my brief nap to a rapid vibration of my whole body. My first thought was that it was an earth quake then I thought maybe I was having a heart attack. The clue that this time told me this was not a normal situation was that everything I perceived in by room was gray and lacked color. The rapid vibrations of my body continued until a tunnel suddenly formed about me with what appeared to be a vortex of gray smoke or clouds making up its walls. I felt my body start to lift up off the bed. I was obviously full of apprehension. Had I died? My ascent started to increase faster and faster thru the tunnel until I broke free at the end of this very long column. The feeling was very peaceful and it was as if I was suspended floating above the earth while observing the stars before me. This feeling of floating in space lasted only a few moments. I remember thinking to myself ”look at all the stars” feeling awed by what was before me. In hind site this thought amused me because this is a line out of 2010 A Space Odyssey.
The next sensation was one that I will remember forever sense it was one of the most intense and pleasurable I ever experienced. It was as if my mind was exploding and expanding out into the reaches of space. There was this moment that I can only explain as receiving infinite knowledge, knowing all the answers and how everything worked given to me in a brief burst of a couple of seconds. I commented to myself at one point “so that is what it is all about”. Unfortunately I started to feel my body slowly drift back down towards and into the center of the tunnel. As I did I felt the newly gained knowledge start to fade or drain from my memory. I closed my eyes and frantically struggled to retain two or three pieces of “critical knowledge” thinking to myself if I can only retain something key that would prove this experience was real or even potentially profitable… a cure or a yet undiscovered invention, an unsolved life mystery, just anything unknown to us mere mortals at the current time. But as I would frantically attempt to focus and be selective on several newly acquired tidbits of knowledge it would slip and fade from my memory like water running thru loosely cupped hands as my body continued to drift down thru the gray tunnel. My body continued to descend until it was once again lying on my bed but now still and peacefully. I opened my eyes and all was has it should be. A gnawing thought stuck with me for a long time afterward even though I did not know the meaning or validity of this experience and that was if only I hadn’t been so greedy and only focused on one piece of knowledge could I have retained it and brought it back with me. My recollection is that I did not have those feverish high fatigue episodes after that afternoon.
In relaying this these experiences to fiends and people I have meet over the years there were many who were believers, many skeptics, that this was indeed an experience out side of the physical world and normal dream experience. I personally have no doubt. Some have asked why I did not continue to actively pursue these dream states. I tell them since both my experiences had a sense of awe, great pleasure, combined with a element of darkness and panic that maybe it was best for me to not actively explore this realm. Better to let them find me if fate or some other force would have it. Or maybe it is a son’s natural instinct to heed his mother's advice: I don’t want you to do that any more!
– Anonymous Dreamer
Since this time I had only one similar “dream state” experience of this nature which was well beyond the realm of a ordinary dream. This happened several years later after my first.
For weeks I would come home from work feeling very extraordinarily fatigued. I would lie down and would feel almost feverish and doze off for about a half hour only to awake feeling as or more exhausted. One afternoon I thought I had awoke from my brief nap to a rapid vibration of my whole body. My first thought was that it was an earth quake then I thought maybe I was having a heart attack. The clue that this time told me this was not a normal situation was that everything I perceived in by room was gray and lacked color. The rapid vibrations of my body continued until a tunnel suddenly formed about me with what appeared to be a vortex of gray smoke or clouds making up its walls. I felt my body start to lift up off the bed. I was obviously full of apprehension. Had I died? My ascent started to increase faster and faster thru the tunnel until I broke free at the end of this very long column. The feeling was very peaceful and it was as if I was suspended floating above the earth while observing the stars before me. This feeling of floating in space lasted only a few moments. I remember thinking to myself ”look at all the stars” feeling awed by what was before me. In hind site this thought amused me because this is a line out of 2010 A Space Odyssey.
The next sensation was one that I will remember forever sense it was one of the most intense and pleasurable I ever experienced. It was as if my mind was exploding and expanding out into the reaches of space. There was this moment that I can only explain as receiving infinite knowledge, knowing all the answers and how everything worked given to me in a brief burst of a couple of seconds. I commented to myself at one point “so that is what it is all about”. Unfortunately I started to feel my body slowly drift back down towards and into the center of the tunnel. As I did I felt the newly gained knowledge start to fade or drain from my memory. I closed my eyes and frantically struggled to retain two or three pieces of “critical knowledge” thinking to myself if I can only retain something key that would prove this experience was real or even potentially profitable… a cure or a yet undiscovered invention, an unsolved life mystery, just anything unknown to us mere mortals at the current time. But as I would frantically attempt to focus and be selective on several newly acquired tidbits of knowledge it would slip and fade from my memory like water running thru loosely cupped hands as my body continued to drift down thru the gray tunnel. My body continued to descend until it was once again lying on my bed but now still and peacefully. I opened my eyes and all was has it should be. A gnawing thought stuck with me for a long time afterward even though I did not know the meaning or validity of this experience and that was if only I hadn’t been so greedy and only focused on one piece of knowledge could I have retained it and brought it back with me. My recollection is that I did not have those feverish high fatigue episodes after that afternoon.
In relaying this these experiences to fiends and people I have meet over the years there were many who were believers, many skeptics, that this was indeed an experience out side of the physical world and normal dream experience. I personally have no doubt. Some have asked why I did not continue to actively pursue these dream states. I tell them since both my experiences had a sense of awe, great pleasure, combined with a element of darkness and panic that maybe it was best for me to not actively explore this realm. Better to let them find me if fate or some other force would have it. Or maybe it is a son’s natural instinct to heed his mother's advice: I don’t want you to do that any more!
– Anonymous Dreamer
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